The chief executive of Metro Group, Olaf Koch, has told the Financial Times that once the group’s current restructuring efforts have been completed, the company will simply move on to the next one, as part of an ongoing process.
“When we say ‘we’re done, we’re finished’, then the next scheme needs to come into play,” he told the paper. “We’ll never be done.”
The retailer’s first priority, however, is to ensure that the current demerger is carried out effectively, that it will help to improve the performance of the two businesses that will emerge from it, Metro and Economy, and that the companies’ credit ratings will be maintained, he said.
Plan B
According to the Financial Times, the retailer has no ‘plan B’, should its leading shareholder, Erich Kellerhals, put a spanner in the works during the demerger process. Kellerhals, the founder of Media-Saturn, owns 21.6% of the business.
“I think the likelihood [of disruption] is almost negligible,” Koch told the paper. “You should never say never, but in this case I dare to say it.”
At the group’s annual general meeting in February, shareholders approved the planned demerger by a majority of 99.95%.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine
